Santa Fe, N.M.—March 30, 2015—The Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) Contemporary Music Program (CMP) will host a tribute event on April 7 that celebrates the life and success of legendary jazz singer and songwriter Billie Holiday on the day that would have marked her 100th birthday. The event, which is free and open to the public, will run from 7-9 p.m. in The Forum on the SFUAD campus.

The celebration, also in honor of National Jazz Month, will begin with a screening of the 1972 film, “Lady Sings the Blues,” followed by a live performance from several student singers and jazz faculty from SFUAD. The vocalists will perform some of Holiday’s most classic songs, but feature their own musical arrangements.

“We have a belief within the Contemporary Music Program that encourages our students to ‘create new visions by embracing tradition,’” said faculty chair Horace Alexander Young. “In celebrating the centennial of the birth of America’s first true jazz vocalist, Billie Holiday, we are not only recognizing her stellar contributions and achievements to the art form, but we use this moment in time as a point of departure for five such voices of a new generation of young women who are being grown and nurtured in the foundations of the legacy Billie left us upon which to build.”

Student and faculty performers include (in no particular order):

Janel V. Blanco-Jean-Bart (Them There Eyes)

Rachel Dupard (Strange Fruit)

Cabria Scott (Good Morning Heartache)

Elise Stoffer (Fine And Mellow)

Tawanda Suessbrich Joaquim (God Bless The Child)

Mark Clark, drums

Robert Muller, piano

Horace Alexander Young, saxophone

Andy Zadrozny, bass

Cake and refreshments will also be served during the event.

Billie Holiday 100th Birthday Tribute Event

Tuesday, April 7

7-9 p.m.

The Forum, SFUAD Campus

1600 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe, NM

For more information, contact Susanne Miller at 1-505-473-6196.

About SFUAD’s Contemporary Music Department

The Contemporary Music Program at Santa Fe University of Art and Design educates students in contemporary and classical music, world music, digital technology and recording techniques, with a heavy emphasis on performing and community involvement. Throughout the year, students have the opportunity to tour, reaching different audiences and enriching not only their academic experience but also their ability to communicate through original compositions, their instrument and their voice.